Approved projects in the “Civil security - Protection of critical infrastructure” field
Power, water and transport infrastructures play a vital part in European societies and economies. In Germany and France in particular, these critical infrastructures consist of a dense network with numerous links between the two countries. There are various new challenges involved in providing effective protection for critical infrastructure. Both infrastructure interconnection and the opposite trend of decentralising organisations create new risks. The “Civil security – Protection of critical infrastructure” call for proposals was intended to strengthen bilateral cooperation in civil security research. Funding was granted to interdisciplinary research projects on which German and French partners work together to devise solutions for protecting critical infrastructure. Germany’s and France’s aim was not only to strengthen national security in their own countries but also to contribute to Europe’s overall security architecture.
Completed joint projects:
BERCOM: Blueprint for pan-European resilient critical infrastructures based on LTE-communications
Funding codes: 13N13736 to 13N13743
A reliable energy supply is one of the key factors in ensuring civil security and a functioning economy. With energy and communication infrastructures becoming increasingly interlinked, the BERCOM project aimed to reduce the risk of energy infrastructure failure by establishing a secure additional mobile telephone network. The idea was that this additional network will be reserved for operators of critical infrastructure and integrated into the existing communication infrastructure. This would enable, for example, local energy generation facilities to be controlled centrally. It would also be possible to reconstruct the pre-failure system status when a failure occurs.
More information (only available in German)
REHSTRAIN: Resilience of the Franco-German high speed train network
Funding codes: 13N13786 to 13N13790
Between 2007 and 2014, more than 10 million passengers travelled by train between Germany and France on the ICE or TGV route. Based on the scenario of a terrorist threat, the partners on the REHSTRAIN project were seeking to explore the vulnerability of the Franco-German high speed train network to facilitate better protection of the rail network (part of the critical infrastructure) at systemically relevant points. Comprehensive measures for improving system resilience were also being developed. The findings would be incorporated into a decision support system for operators.
More information (only available in German)
ResiWater: Innovative, secure sensor networks and model-based assessment tools for increased resilience of water infrastructures
Funding codes: 13N13687 to 13N13690
Drinking water distribution systems are critical infrastructure facilities. They are highly complex and dependent on other infrastructures. The potential hazards they face include accidental or deliberate contamination, natural disasters, terrorist attacks and power supply failure. The aim, therefore, is to enable operators of water utilities to ensure an optimum drinking water supply even in out-of-the-ordinary situations. A further aim was to accelerate the return to normal operation following a crisis. To this end, the team was investigating possible critical situations and which sensors could be used and interconnected in order to determine water quality even more reliably and quickly.
More information (only available in German)